⚡️ Columbus Marketing Jobs Newsletter: https://www.columbusmarketingjobs.com/

📄 The B2B Healthcare Website Breakdown: https://www.report.mmg.studio

I sat down as the guest on The Marketers Exit with Tas Bober and Tim Davidson, and we're bringing the full conversation over to Marketing by Design. I get into the real story behind MMG Design, the February 2024 layoff that started it all, the local networking grind that built 70% of my referral business, and how I went from a $1,200 client to a $200K studio in two years without a niche for the first year. We also get into the YouTube discipline of posting my monthly P&L for 26 straight months, why I waited too long to specialize in Webflow and healthcare, and what I'd actually tell someone thinking about going solo.

CONNECT WITH TAS & TIM (The Marketers Exit)

🎙 Podcast: https://themarketersexit.com/

🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMarketersExit

💼 Tas Bober, The Scroll Lab: https://thescrolllab.com/

💼 Tim Davidson, B2B Rizz: https://b2brizz.com/

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

04:26 - I Got Catfished By a Co-Working Space

09:13 - Why I Never Looked For Another Job

11:30 - My First Client Paid Me $1,200

13:47 - Why I Post My P&L Every Month

16:02 - 439 YouTube Videos and Counting

20:44 - The Videos With 3 Views Still Mattered

22:40 - Why I Ignore Every Bad Comment

25:02 - No Safety Net, No Plan B

27:18 - The 7:30 AM Networking Grind

32:04 - Why I Waited Too Long to Niche

34:15 - My Actual Offer Breakdown

38:54 - The Project That Made a Client Cry

41:12 - $40K to $200K in One Year

53:00 - Would I Ever Sell MMG?

57:37 - The Most Overrated Advice I Got

59:35 - Advice vs. Experience, Know the Difference

1:00:01 - What My Parents Think I Do

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ Start Your Website Redesign Here: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Motion design founder Matt Vojacek returns to Marketing by Design to unpack what actually separates memorable creative from forgettable work now that AI can get anyone to "average" in minutes. We dig into why he built Made by Things around story instead of software, the difference between creating and curating, and how the entire quality bar is shifting under marketers' feet. He also breaks down a sales philosophy that has nothing to do with cold calls and everything to do with being a real person over a long horizon. If you market a B2B brand and you're worried about blending in, this gives you a sharper way to think about standing out.

CONNECT WITH MATT

🌐 Website: https://www.madebythings.com

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattvojacek/

📚 Book (The Business of Making Things): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GVBK9KVC

🎟 Making Midwest: https://www.makingmidwest.com

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

02:10 - The book he swore he'd never write

09:30 - "I wanted to make something real"

13:15 - How a dinner for 8 became a Columbus conference

22:40 - The first question every creative asks him

27:05 - The number he hit, and why it felt empty

34:20 - What AI actually changed (and what it didn't)

38:50 - Creating vs curating

44:30 - "AI makes everyone average"

49:15 - Sales is just making friends at scale

54:40 - Seven figures in a backwards hat

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

⚡️ High-Converting Websites Visual Swipe File: https://www.mmg.studio/visualswipefile

Alexander Ferguson, co-founder and CMO of TeraLeap, has helped over 170 B2B brands turn happy customers into video testimonials that close deals faster. In this conversation, Andy and Alexander get into why AI-generated websites all start to look the same, why traffic to B2B sites has dropped sharply, and what actually earns a buyer's trust in the first few seconds. You'll walk away knowing exactly where to place social proof, how to structure FAQs for conversion, and why differentiation is the only thing that wins when everyone can ship a "good enough" site.

CONNECT WITH ALEXANDER

🌐 Website: https://teraleap.io

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexferguson/

🎙 Podcast: UpTech Report

CONNECT WITH ANDY

🌐 Website: https://www.mmg.studio/

💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulmilligan/

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro

01:16 - The $10M agency that never ran an ad

03:52 - How one meetup became a whale client

08:15 - Turning "be a good person" into a system

11:45 - Why B2B site traffic dropped 60%

15:11 - The "AI look" that kills trust

17:23 - FAQs are a conversion tool, not a dumping ground

23:08 - The testimonials page mistake almost everyone makes

27:17 - Why real video proof can't be faked

39:29 - The one word that wins deals in 18 months

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmg.studio/

🤝 Powered by // AMA Columbus: https://amacolumbus.org and our friends at COHATCH (Get 2 free weeks of premium coworking, on us) https://www.cohatch.com/mbd

TEAM

🎙 Host // Andy Milligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmgdesign/

🎥 Production // MMG Design: https://www.mmgdesign.net